Seven Minutes With Guillaume Brisebois of the Utica Comets

Photo credit:© Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports

4 years ago

Interview With Guillaume Brisebois

The Utica Comets got off to an impressive October, going 8-0 for the month before losing their first four games in November. I sat down with Guillaume Brisebois for a phone interview last week to discuss the team’s start and a bit about his role with the club this year.

When we talk about the blueline in Utica, the first name on the tip of most fans’ tongues is Olli Juolevi. As a player who was selected with the fifth-overall pick in his draft year, that is somewhat understandable. Brogan Rafferty has been getting a lot of attention this season as well, and he is earning it with his play for the team, mostly while paired with Guillaume Brisebois.

The thing is, the team also has guys like Jalen Chatfield, Mitch Eliot, Ashton Sautner, and Guillaume Brisebois around who are prospects in the Canucks system, not to mention Dylan Blujus and Stefan LeBlanc who are on AHL deals with Utica. They are deep but relatively inexperienced group who skate well and have done a very nice job of moving the puck this year.

Someone who hasn’t seen as much press in the early goings this year, but who I feel has earned some is Guillaume Brisebois.

The 6’2″, 189lbs left-shot defender was drafted in the third round, 66th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft by the Vancouver Canucks. He is entering the third and final year of his entry-level deal with the team and will be looking to establish himself as a go-to call-up this year with an eye toward competing for a job with the Canucks out of camp next season.

Brisebois got into eight games with the Canucks last season, going pointless and finishing with a minus-four beside his name. To my eye, he didn’t look out of place in his brief audition in a third-pairing role.

Guillaume has now played in 131 AHL games and has picked up seven goals, 25 assists, and 32 points along the way. He has also spent 44 minutes in the penalty box. This season, he has one goal and two helpers to give himself three points through 14 games played.

As mentioned above, Brisebois has mostly been used on a pairing with rookie defender Brogan Rafferty this year. He’s seen some time with rookie Mitch Eliot as well, but for the most part, it has been a Brisebois/Rafferty duo through the first 14 games of the season.

I wanted to ask Guillaume about that pairing and how he feels they have fared so far this year.

“I think it’s been going pretty well for us so far. We just have to keep it going. He’s been amazing on the backend for us and he’s been contributing offensively, so he’s been a great player to play with.”

I followed up by asking Guillaume if he feels that there is an area that he and Rafferty do well with. I wasn’t surprised by his answer as it was right in line with what I have been seeing from the duo.

“I think just moving the puck. We’ve been moving the puck pretty well so far and we’ve just got to keep going that way.”

Of course, I also wanted to know if there was an area where he felt that he and Rafferty could make some improvements.

“I mean, we’ve only played, what is it, eight/nine games together? We’re getting to know each other (on the ice) and we’re still learning how each other plays and it will just keep getting better as the season goes on.”

Brisebois spent a good portion of his first two seasons in Utica playing with veteran Jaime Sifers on his other side. Sifers played in 651 AHL games over 11 seasons and brought a wealth of experience to the table. Playing with him helped Guillaume settle his game down and play a simple, effective game.

The 36-year-old Sifers retired after last season, leaving the Comets with Dylan Blujus and Ashton Sautner as the greybeards on the Comets blueline, they are both just 25-years-old.

With rookies Olli Juolevi, Brogan Rafferty, and Mitch Eliot joining the backend this year, it puts extra importance on the abilities of guys like Chatfield, Sautner, and Brisebois to play a regular shift while helping bring along the rookie crew.

I asked Guillaume about Sifers and the penalty-killing lessons that were passed on along the way.

“I mean, Jaime was the best. He was such a great teammate. He went to war for us every game. He was helping me, he was pumping me up when I was on the PK, so I was ready to block some shots with him. He was just an amazing teammate and this year I’m just trying to bring that mentality on the PK and block some shots.”

Something that I noticed was that Guillaume currently leads the Comets blueline with 25 shots on goal through 14 games for an average of 1.79 shots/game. In his first season with the Comets, he put up 66 shots in 68 games for 0.95 shots/game. Last year, he totalled 60 shots in 49 games for 1.22 shots/game.

The points haven’t followed, but getting those shots through will at least provide some rebound opportunities for his teammates as the season goes on. I asked Brisebois if he had done anything different this offseason that has led to those additional shots getting through.

“I worked with my skills coach on putting pucks on the net from the blueline… yeah, I’ve been working on that a lot.”

The Comets started this season with a ridiculously deep roster, which helped them get off to such a hot start. I wondered how having players with NHL experience like Sven Baertschi and Nikolay Goldobin has changed how the ice unfolds in front of Guillaume during a game.

“They are amazing players in the American League. They’re dominant. It’s pretty easy playing with them. You give them the puck and something is going to happen… something good is going to happen offensively, so it’s easy playing with them.”

As I mentioned above, the Comets are running with a fairly young crew on the blueline and I asked Guillaume what the experience is like compared to previous seasons.

“Guys are young and ready to learn. They are amazing guys and amazing players. It’s easy to improve when you are around others who also want to improve.”

Last year, the Comets used Thatcher Demko, Richard Bachman, Ivan Kulbakov, Michael Leighton, Marek Mazanec, Ty Reichenbach, and Connor LaCouvee in goal for at least part of a game. This year, the goalie-go-round has been limited to Zane McIntyre and Michael DiPietro through the team’s first 14 games.

McIntyre has gone 5-2-0 while posting a goals-against-average of 2.49 along with a save percentage of 0.923%. He has stopped 200 of the 216 shots that he has faced this year. He’s been pulled from a game once this year.

Mikey DiPietro, for his part, has gone 4-3-0 this year, stopping 193 of the 208 shots that he’s faced, giving him a GAA of 1.96 along with a 0.928% save percentage.

This is all to say that the Comets goaltending situation has been a bit more consistent so far this year and I asked Guillaume what it was like to play in front of the McIntyre/DiPietro duo this season.

“It’s great! They’re great goaltenders and they’ve been amazing for us so far. They’re both dedicated to improving their games every day in practice, so it’s been nice to watch and it’s been great to be a part of.”

I had seen an interview with Sven Baertschi since his call-up to Vancouver where he gushed about the Comets’ young blueline and how well they move the puck this year. I asked Guillaume if it was a situation where the team was using different systems, or if it was more personnel driven.

“The guys who have come in this year are pretty good at moving the puck and it’s been great for us. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”

And finally, at the time of this interview, the Comets had gone 8-0 for October but had dropped their first two games in November. I asked Guillaume if there was any sort of different message from the coaching staff after the two losses.

“They want us to work harder. It’s gonna happen in a season… a little slump. I think we’ve been off to a great start so far and obviously we’ve gotta come out a lot stronger. We can’t hit the panic button, we’ve had a great start and it will come back for us.”

I have had the pleasure of speaking with Brisebois three or four times now and I always enjoy our conversations. I always appreciate him taking the time to talk with me and to give our readers a little glimpse into what goes on in the AHL on the farm.

In my two-plus seasons of watching Brisebois play for the Comets, I have seen a player who has taken steps in his game and has grown as a player. I find that Guillaume is most effective when he keeps his game simple and plays with confidence. He has been rounding out his game in the AHL and is looking like he will be a solid option for the Vancouver Canucks in the coming years as a defender who should be able to step in and kill penalties effectively at the NHL level.

Brisebois has been eating minutes on the kill in Utica since his rookie campaign and has taken on an even bigger role on that side of things this season. I predict that we will see him getting some minutes with the parent Canucks again this year before the season is up.

The Comets are back in action on Friday when they hit the road to Syracuse for their 15th game of the season. As always, CanucksArmy will have you covered with pre and post-game reports.

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Seven Minutes With Guillaume Brisebois of the Utica Comets

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